How to Add a Watermark to a PDF: Text, Logo or Pattern

What a watermark is for

A watermark is a line of text or a logo laid across the pages of a document, usually faint enough to read through. It does one job well: it tells every reader something about the file, and that message survives printing, screenshots and forwarding. DRAFT says don’t act on this yet. CONFIDENTIAL says think before you forward it. A client’s name in the corner says whose copy this is. A logo says who made it.

What a watermark can’t do is lock anything. It is a label, not a security feature, and the last section of this guide covers what to use when a label isn’t enough.

Add a watermark to a PDF, step by step

1. Open Watermark PDF and choose your file. You can load up to 10 PDFs at once, 50 MB each and 100 MB in total. The preview and the export both run in your browser, so the files are not uploaded.
2. Under Start with, pick Confidential, Draft, Sample or Logo. Each is a starting point you can change.
3. On the Style tab, switch between Text and Image. For text, type your wording and set the font, size and color. For a logo, upload a PNG, JPEG or WebP file up to 10 MB and set Image width.
4. Set Opacity and Rotation. The quick-angle buttons give you −45°, 0°, 45° and 90°.
5. On the Position tab, choose Single mark or Repeat pattern. For a single mark, pick one of the nine anchor points or drag the mark on the preview, then fine-tune with Page margin and the offsets. For a pattern, set Pattern spacing.
6. On the Pages tab, choose where the mark goes: All pages, One page, Custom page range, Odd pages or Even pages. Check Skip the first page to keep a cover clean.
7. Flip through a few pages in the preview. The Original button hides the marks so you can compare.
8. Select Export PDF, review the finished file, then choose Download PDF. For a batch you can also download every file in one ZIP.

The export is a new copy. Your original file isn’t changed.

Choose a style that keeps the page readable

A watermark has to be noticed without getting in the way, and those two goals pull against each other. The four starting points cover the common cases:

Scroll the table to compare all columns.

From there, adjust for your pages. Dense text needs a lighter mark than a page of photos, so lower the opacity until the body text underneath is comfortable to read. A diagonal mark touches only a few characters on each line it crosses, where a horizontal one sits on top of whole lines. That is why diagonal is the convention. A repeating pattern is harder to crop out of a screenshot than a single mark, at the cost of a busier page.

Above or behind the page content?

Content layer on the Style tab decides whether the mark is drawn over the page or under it. Above PDF content always shows. Behind PDF content keeps text crisp, because the letters sit on top of the mark, but it only works on pages with a see-through background. A scanned page is one large image that covers everything beneath it, so a mark placed behind a scan disappears.

Put page numbers, file names and dates in the mark

Under the text box, Insert a variable adds a placeholder that is filled in for each page and file when you export:

• {page} and {pages} are the current page number and the total, so “Page {page} of {pages}” becomes “Page 3 of 12.”
• {filename} is the name of the PDF without “.pdf.”
• {date} is today’s date, written like 2026-10-10.

Variables are what make batch work practical. Load ten contracts, set the text to “{filename} · issued {date},” and each file gets its own stamp from a single setup.

Use more than one watermark

A document can carry up to eight marks, and each has its own page selection. Use the Text and Image add buttons to create another, then set its pages on the Pages tab. A typical combination is a logo on the first page only (choose One page) and a small “Confidential” line on all the others (choose All pages and check Skip the first page).

If you use the same setup often, Save as preset keeps it for next time. Presets are stored in the browser you saved them in, so they won’t follow you to another device.

When something looks wrong

• The mark is missing on some pages. Those pages are probably scans and the layer is set to Behind PDF content. Switch it to Above PDF content. Also check the Pages tab, which shows how many pages will receive the mark.
• Your logo has a white box around it. The image has a solid background. Use a PNG with a transparent background, or make one with Remove Background.
• The mark is too big on some pages. Sizes are set in points (72 points to an inch), so the mark is the same physical size on every page and takes up more of a small one. Fit watermark to page on the Position tab shrinks it to fit the page you are viewing.
• A custom range is rejected in a batch. The range has to exist in every file. “1-12” fails if one of the PDFs has eight pages.
• The PDF asks for a password. Remove it with Unlock PDF, add the watermark, then protect the file again.

Check the result before you send it

The review screen shows the finished PDF, so page through it there. Look at one page of each kind in the document: a text page, a page with a dark photo or chart, a landscape page, a scan. If the document will be printed, print one page, because a pale gray mark can look lighter or heavier on paper than on screen. Then open the download once in your usual PDF reader and confirm that text under the mark still selects and searches as it did before.

What a watermark can’t do

We add the mark as a separate layer on each page and leave the rest of the file as it was. That keeps your text sharp and searchable. It also means the watermark isn’t welded to the content: someone with a PDF editor and a reason to remove it can do so, and a mark doesn’t stop anyone from copying text or printing.

So match the tool to the goal:

• To control who can open the file, add a password with Protect PDF. See how PDF passwords work.
• To take information out of a document for good, use Redact PDF. Our redaction guide explains why covering text isn’t enough.
• To prove who issued a document and that it hasn’t been altered, you need a certificate-based digital signature, which is a different thing from a visible stamp. Digital vs electronic signatures explains the difference.
• To watermark photos rather than PDFs, use Watermark Image.

Frequently asked questions

Can I remove a watermark after adding it?

Not with PDF Logic. The export is a new file and your original is left as it was, so keep the original and go back to it if you need a clean copy or different wording.

Can I watermark only the first page, or every page except the cover?

Yes. On the Pages tab, choose One page for a single page, or All pages with Skip the first page checked. Custom page range accepts lists such as “1, 3-5.”

Is the watermark text searchable?

No. The mark is placed on the page as a picture of your text, which keeps any font and language looking the way it did in the preview. The document’s own text isn’t affected.

Are my PDFs uploaded?

No. Setting up, previewing and exporting the watermark all happen in your browser, on your own device. If your device cannot finish a large batch, the tool offers to export on our server instead and waits for your answer. Nothing is sent unless you choose that.